Wanderings
by B2
Summary: A collection of anime character sketches. Hikaru no Go, Shaman King, Fruits Basket, Bleach, etc.
1. Cartography

Cartography

Hikaru no Go - Akira

When he squares up to the table (as he inevitably does every evening) he places his palms on both corners, bearing down on the sharp edges. It is a strange ritual, he knows, but it is his way of orienting himself, to locate himself within that empty blond plane.

He needs this placement.

He opens the box and reaches in. The pieces slide, cold, between his fingers. He both hates and loves the feeling of them. They remind him, terribly, seductively, of skin. And it is then he grows aware of those eager eyes across the table from him.

He becomes unmoored.

It is only when he clicks the pieces on the board that he finds himself again.


	2. Silence

Silence

Shaman King - Anna and Yoh

He hums tunelessly, his head bobbing slightly in time to the music, as he snaps the sheet wide. He flaps the sheet vigorously, loosening the creases, before he folds it into a square.

She rattles her paper, a subtle warning. He cannot hear her. She clears her throat, lances him with an annoyed glance. He works on.

Finally, she rises, setting her paper aside. She strides toward him. He does not notice and continues to fold sheets with blithe unconcern. She sighs, a little exasperated, before she places her hand upon his.

He smiles slowly, sweetly, as he faces her. He clicks a button on his walkman. Then he drops the sheet to enfold her hand in his.


	3. Faith

Faith

Shaman King – Yoh and Anna

For Eve

Anna has never told Yoh that she loves him. Yoh, on the other hand, tells her every day.

"I love you, Anna," he laughs, smiling, as they walk down an empty street together.

"I love you, Anna," he whispers, before he drifts off to sleep.

"I love you, Anna," he calls, waving, as he hurries out of the door.

She never says those words in return, though. She could never learn to say them as easily as he does. When she tries, they weigh like stones in her mouth.

But she believes he knows.

For he tells her every day.


	4. Anno Mirabilis

Anno Mirabilis

Eriol and Kaho (Cardcaptor Sakura)

He often thought of her at odd times.

During the New Year cleaning, as he beat the dust out of the library carpets, he remembered the way the August sun rimmed her pale hand as she pointed to a passing dragonfly. When he buttered his toast at breakfast, he heard again her silly song about frogs as they walked along the river. When he handed the cashier his credit card at the bookstall that afternoon, he saw the slow unfurling of her smile as she listened to Count Basie on the radio.

He stored all of her inside him; he saved every gesture, look, and word, so even when she passed on, he could fill those empty years.

And that, he knew, was the wonder of her.


	5. Beginning

Beginning

Bleach - Rukia/Renji

She left her life on Monday.

Or so she liked to think. She didn't actually know the day of her death. She didn't even know _how_ she died.

So why'd you pick that day, idiot, when you don't even know? he asked. And why the hell are you so morbid? he added.

I'm not morbid, she snapped. And I picked Monday because it's the beginning of the week, she explained.

Isn't it Sunday?

I consider Sunday a part of the weekend.

You're still not making any sense, he persisted. Why Monday?

Because it's the beginning of the week, just like this – she waved her thin arms around – is the beginning of a new period in life.

Death is just a continuance, huh?

Yeah. There wasn't really an end, you see.

That's like you to say that, idiot, he muttered.

She smiled.


	6. She Left Her Life on Monday

She left her life on Monday

Bleach - Ichigo/Rukia

She didn't leave a note or letter when she left. He scrabbled through sheets of blank paper and marker drawings, upended canisters of dry pens and leadless pencils, shook out dresses and skirts, but found nothing. That bitch could have left something, anything, he thought.

He didn't need really anything, though. He already knew her reasons. Still, he wanted something other than that knowledge, his familiarity, his understanding.

She was days gone, but he wanted some assurance or proof of finality.

Only she wasn't one to give that kind of comfort.


	7. Spirit

Spirit

Bleach - Ichigo/Rukia

He knows that bodies cool and turn to ash, and souls are the afterglow. Souls don't burn, steady and constant; they slip and flicker like light on water or glass. (When he was small, he tried to trap their light between his palms, as any other kid would catch fireflies. But they would only waver and scatter across his hands.) And he feels them, a subtle and palpable heat. They wink against his skin, his eyes, like the light between tree leaves or the flash of neon in the windows of a clacking subway car.

Then they pass on.

She moves among them, actual and unconditional. She has the same heaviness, the same languidness of the people that push past her for all that she is so puny. (Between the folds of her collar, he sees her bones, the pulse of her blood beneath her paper-thin skin.) She plows against them, her sharp shoulders and elbows like teeth on a harrow.

Still she slips and glimmers between his palms, trembles and breaks away. He can't hold her. (He feels her presence always, warm and faint, against his skin, his eyes.)

She moves among them, mass against mass in that simple physics. She lives, flesh and bone, substantial and real.

But he knows she'll pass on.


	8. Enough

Enough (Bleach - Ichigo/Orihime)

"Look, Kurosaki-kun!"

He pauses, looks puzzled. "What?"

She points to the sky. "A rainbow," she says brightly and smiles.

He scans the sky. "Where?"

She suddenly grabs his hand (breathless at her boldness) and raises it high. She guides his hand to the west (marvels over the thin cords of muscle, his scarred knuckles, his rough palm), above a thin rim of rooftops and electrical wires.

She steadies his hand on the arch, quickly releases it. "There," she answers.

He stares at the rainbow between his fingers.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says. He takes one last look and moves on.

She watches him as he walks away with long, quick strides. She touches her hand (feels his strength, his warmth still).

"Kurosaki-kun!" she calls. He slows a little.

She runs to catch up. She falls in step beside and begins, "Do you know, Kurosaki-kun, rainbows are good luck? Like finding a tea stem floating in a cup, or the coin in the roscon de reyes – though if you bite into the bread, you may crack your teeth, which would be more bad luck than good. . . "

He says nothing, only nods, smiling slightly, and walks on.

She needs nothing else.


End file.
